The city is named after the nearby Lake Winnipeg; the name comes from the Western Cree words for muddy water. The region was a trading centre for Indigenous peoples long before the arrival of Europeans. French traders built the first fort on the site in 1738. A settlement was later founded by the Selkirk settlers of the Red River Colony in 1812, the nucleus of which was incorporated as the City of Winnipeg in 1873. As of 2011, Winnipeg is the seventh most populated municipality in Canada.[13] Being far inland, the local climate is extremely seasonal even by Canadian standards with average January lows of around −21 °C (−6 °F) and average July highs of 26 °C (79 °F).[7]

Estimates of the date of first settlement in this area range from 11,500 years ago for a site southwest of the present city to 6,000 years ago at The Forks.[16][18] In 1805, Canadian colonists observed First Nations peoples engaged in farming activity along the Red River. The practice quickly expanded, driven by the demand by traders for provisions.[19] The rivers provided an extensive transportation network linking northern First Peoples with those to the south along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. The Ojibwe made some of the first maps on birch bark, which helped fur traders navigate the waterways of the area.[20]

Lord Selkirk was involved with the first permanent settlement (known as the Red River Colony), the purchase of land from the Hudson's Bay Company, and a survey of river lots in the early 19th century.[25] The North West Company built Fort Gibraltar in 1809, and the Hudson's Bay Company built Fort Douglas in 1812, both in the area of present-day Winnipeg.[26] The two companies competed fiercely over trade.[27] The Métis and Lord Selkirk's settlers fought at the Battle of Seven Oaks in 1816. In 1821, the Hudson's Bay and North West Companies merged, ending their long rivalry.[28] Fort Gibraltar was renamed Fort Garry in 1822 and became the leading post in the region for the Hudson's Bay Company.[29] A flood destroyed the fort in 1826 and it was not rebuilt until 1835.[29] A rebuilt section of the fort, consisting of the front gate and a section of the wall, is near the modern-day corner of Main Street and Broadway in downtown Winnipeg.[30]

In 1869–70, present-day Winnipeg was the site of the Red River Rebellion, a conflict between the local provisional government of Métis, led by Louis Riel, and newcomers from eastern Canada. General Garnet Wolseley was sent to put down the uprising. The Manitoba Act of 1870 made Manitoba the fifth province of the three-year-old Canadian Confederation.[31][32][33]Treaty 1, which encompassed the city and much of the surrounding area, was signed on 3 August 1871 by representatives of the Crown and local Indigenous groups, comprising the Brokenhead Ojibway, Sagkeeng, Long Plain, Peguis, Roseau River Anishinabe, Sandy Bay and Swan Lake communities.[34] On 8 November 1873, Winnipeg was incorporated as a city, with the Selkirk settlement as its nucleus.[35] Métis legislator and interpreter James McKay named the city.[36] Winnipeg's mandate was to govern and provide municipal services to citizens attracted to trade expansion between Upper Fort Garry / Lower Fort Garry and Saint Paul, Minnesota.[37]

Winnipeg developed rapidly after the coming of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1881.[38] The railway divided the North End, which housed mainly Eastern Europeans, from the richer Anglo-Saxon southern part of the city.[16] It also contributed to a demographic shift beginning shortly after Confederation that saw the francophone population decrease from a majority to a small minority group. This shift resulted in Premier Thomas Greenway controversially ending legislative bilingualism and removing funding for French Catholic Schools in 1890.[39]

By 1911, Winnipeg was Canada's third-largest city.[16] However, the city faced financial difficulty when the Panama Canal opened in 1914.[40] The canal reduced reliance on Canada's rail system for international trade; the increase in shipping traffic helped Vancouver to surpass Winnipeg in both prosperity and population by the end of World War I.[41]

More than 30,000 workers walked off their jobs in May 1919 in what came to be known as the Winnipeg general strike.[42] The strike was a product of postwar recession, labour conditions, the activity of union organizers and a large influx of returning World War I soldiers seeking work.[43] After many arrests, deportations, and incidents of violence, the strike ended on 21 June 1919 when the Riot Act was read and a group of Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers charged a group of strikers.[44] Two strikers were killed and at least thirty others were injured on the day that became known as Bloody Saturday; the event polarized the population.[44] One of the leaders of the strike, J. S. Woodsworth, went on to found Canada's first major socialist party, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, which later became the New Democratic Party.[45]

In the Battle of Hong Kong, The Winnipeg Grenadiers were among the first Canadians to engage in combat against Japan. Battalion members who survived combat were taken prisoner and endured brutal treatment in prisoner of war camps.[48] In 1942, the Victory Loan Campaign staged a mock Nazi invasion of Winnipeg to promote awareness of the stakes of the war in Europe.[49][50] When the war ended, pent-up demand generated a boom in housing development, although building activity was checked by the 1950 Red River flood.[51] The federal government estimated damage at over $26 million, although the province indicated that it was at least double that.[52]

Prior to 1972, Winnipeg was the largest of thirteen cities and towns in a metropolitan area around the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. In 1960 the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg was established to co-ordinate service delivery in the metropolitan region.[37] A consolidated metropolitan "unicity" government incorporating Winnipeg and its surrounding municipalities was established on 27 July 1971, taking effect in 1972.[53] The City of Winnipeg Act incorporated the current city.[16] In 2003 the City of Winnipeg Act was repealed and replaced with the City of Winnipeg Charter.[37]

Winnipeg experienced a severe economic downturn in advance of the early 1980s recession, during which the city incurred closures of prominent businesses, including the Winnipeg Tribune, as well as the Swift's and Canada Packers meat packing plants.[54] In 1981, Winnipeg was one of the first cities in Canada to sign a tripartite agreement with the provincial and federal governments to redevelop its downtown area,[55] and the three levels of government contributed over $271 million to its development.[56] In 1989, the reclamation and redevelopment of the CNRrail yards turned The Forks into Winnipeg's most popular tourist attraction.[14][16] The city was threatened by the 1997 Red River flood as well as further floods in 2009 and 2011,[57] in each of these floods, the Red River Floodway was used to safely protect the city.

Winnipeg has four major rivers: the Red, Assiniboine, La Salle and Seine.[62] The city was subject to severe flooding in the past. The Red River reached its greatest flood height in 1826. Another large flood in 1950 caused millions of dollars in damage and mass evacuations.[63] This flood prompted Duff Roblin's provincial government to build the Red River Floodway to protect the city; the project began in 1962 and was completed in 1968.[16] In the 1997 flood, flood control dikes were reinforced and raised using sandbags; Winnipeg suffered limited damage compared to the flood's impact on cities without such structures, such as Grand Forks, North Dakota.[64] The generally flat terrain and the poor drainage of the Red River Valley's clay-based soil also results in many mosquitoes during wetter years.[65]

Winnipeg's location in the Canadian Prairies gives it a warm-summer humid continental climate[66] (KöppenDfb),[67] with warm, humid summers, and long, very cold winters. Summers have a July mean average of 19.7 °C (67.5 °F).[68] Winters are the coldest and driest time of year, with the January mean average around −16.4 °C (2.5 °F) and total winter precipitation averaging 55 mm (2.2 in).[69] Temperatures occasionally drop below −40.0 °C (−40 °F).[70] The actual air temperature drops below −30 °C (−22 °F) on average 12.6 days annually[7] and rises above 30 °C (86 °F) 13.3 days of the year.[71] On average there are 317.8 days per year with measurable sunshine, with July seeing the most on average.[72] With 2353 hours of sunshine per year, Winnipeg is the second sunniest city in Canada.[73] Total annual precipitation (both rain and snow) is just over 51 centimetres (20 in).[74] Thunderstorms are very common during summer, and sometimes severe enough to produce tornadoes.[75] Low wind chill values are a common occurrence in the local climate. The wind chill has gone down as low as −57 °C (−70.6 °F) and on average there are twelve days of the year that can reach a wind chill below −40 °C (−40 °F).[7]

The highest temperature ever recorded in Winnipeg was 42.2 °C (108 °F) on 11 July 1936 while the highest daily low temperature was 28.3 °C (82.9 °F) on 12 July 1936.[76] The apparent heat can be even more extreme due to bursts of humidity, and on 25 July 2007 a humidex reading of 47.3 °C (117.1 °F) was measured.[7] The coldest temperature ever recorded was −47.8 °C (−54.0 °F) on 24 December 1879.[77]

The frost-free season is comparatively long for a location with such severe winters. The last spring frost is on average around 23 May, whilst the first fall frost is on 22 September.[7]

There are officially 236 neighbourhoods in Winnipeg.[83]Downtown Winnipeg, the city's financial heart and economic core, is centred on the intersection of Portage Avenue and Main Street. It covers about 1 square mile (2.6 km2) and is the city's fastest growing high-income neighbourhood.[84] More than 72,000 people work downtown, and over 40,000 students attend classes at its universities and colleges.[84] The past few decades have seen the downtown undergo major revitalization efforts; since 1999, over C$1.2 billion has been invested.[84]

Residential neighbourhoods surround the downtown in all directions; expansion is greatest to the south and west, although several areas remain underdeveloped.[86] The city's largest park, Assiniboine Park, houses the Assiniboine Park Zoo and the Leo Mol Sculpture Garden.[87] Other large city parks include Kildonan Park and St. Vital Park. The city's major commercial areas are Polo Park, Kildonan Crossing, South St. Vital, Garden City (West Kildonan), Pembina Strip, Kenaston Smart Centre, Osborne Village, and the Corydon strip.[88] The main cultural and nightlife areas are the Exchange District, The Forks, Osborne Village and Corydon Village (both in Fort Rouge), Sargent and Ellice Avenues (West End) and Old St. Boniface.[89]Osborne Village is Winnipeg's most densely populated neighbourhood[90] and one of the most densely populated neighbourhoods in Western Canada.[91]

As of the 2006 census, 48.3 percent of residents were male and 51.7 percent were female. 24.3 percent were 19 years old or younger, 27.4 percent were between 20 and 30 years old, and 34.0 percent were between 40 and 64 years old. The average age of a Winnipegger in May 2006 was 38.7, compared to an average of 39.5 for Canada as a whole.[107] Between the censuses of 2006 and 2011, Winnipeg's population increased by 4.8 percent, compared to 5.2 percent for Manitoba as a whole. The population density of the city of Winnipeg averaged 1,430 people per km2, compared with 2.2 for Manitoba.[108]

Winnipeg has a significant and increasing Aboriginal population, with both the highest percentage of Aboriginal peoples (12.5%) for any major Canadian city, and the highest total number of Aboriginals (86,035) for any single non-reserve municipality.[109] The Aboriginal population grew by 22% between 2001 and 2006, compared to an increase of 3% for the city as a whole; this population tends to be younger and less wealthy than non-Aboriginal residents.[110] Winnipeg also has the highest Métis population in both percentage (6.3%) and numbers (41,005); the growth rate for this population between 2001 and 2006 was 30%.[106][110]

The city has the greatest percentage of Filipino residents (8.7%) of any major Canadian city, although Toronto has more Filipinos by total population. In 2006, Winnipeg ranked seventh of the Canadian cities for percentage of residents of a visible minority.[106][111] As of the 2016 Census, the population was 63.9% European in origin (73.5% of the city was white in 2006), while non-aboriginal visible minorities represent 23.5% (up from 16.3% in 2006).[106][107] The city receives over 10,000 net international immigrants per year.[112]

More than a hundred languages are spoken in Winnipeg, of which the most common is English: 99 percent of Winnipeggers are fluent English speakers, 88 percent speak only English, and 0.1 percent speak only French (Canada's other official language). 10 percent speak both English and French, while 1.3 percent speak neither. Other languages spoken as a mother tongue in Winnipeg include Tagalog (5.0%), German (2.5%), and Punjabi and Ukrainian (both 1.4%). Several Aboriginal languages are also spoken, such as Ojibwe (0.3%) and Cree (0.2%).[108]

Winnipeg is an economic base and regional centre. It has one of the country's most diversified economies,[113] with major employment in the trade (15.2%), manufacturing (9.8%), educational (7.7%), and health care and social assistance (15.2%) sectors.[113] There were approximately 21,000 employers in the city as of 2012.[113]

In 2013, The CIBC Metropolitan Economic Activity Index rated Winnipeg's economy as fourth in a national survey of 25 city economies, behind Toronto, Calgary, and Regina.[114] According to the Conference Board of Canada, Winnipeg was projected to experience a real GDP growth of 2 percent in 2014.[115] In 2016,Winnipeg extended its record of consecutive real GDP growth to eight years due to output growth in the following key areas of the local economy: primary industries and utilities (4.6%); transportation and warehousing (4.2%); finance, insurance and real estate (2.8%); wholesale and retail trade (3.1%); and business services (2.3%). Winnipeg is forecasted to achieve comparable economic growth in 2017 (currently projected at 2.4%).[116] Unlike most of Canada, the city experienced a decrease in unemployment in 2013, ending the year at a rate of 5.8 percent.[117] As of 2010, median household income in the city was $72,050.[113]

The Royal Canadian Mint, established in 1976, produces all circulating coinage in Canada.[122] The plant, in southeastern Winnipeg, also produces coins for many other countries.[123]

In 2012, Winnipeg was ranked by KPMG as the least expensive location to do business in western Canada.[124] Like many prairie cities, Winnipeg has a relatively low cost of living.[125] According to the Canadian Real Estate Association, the average house price in Winnipeg was $260,000 as of 2013.[126] As of May 2014, the Consumer Price Index was 125.8 relative to 2002 prices, reflecting consumer costs at the Canadian average.[127][128]

The city has developed many distinct dishes and cooking styles, notably in the areas of confectionery and hot-smoked fish. Both the First Nations and more recent Eastern Canadian, European, and Asian immigrants have helped shape Winnipeg's dining scene, giving birth to dishes such as the desserts schmoo torte and wafer pie.[136][137]

The Winnipeg Art Gallery is Western Canada's oldest public art gallery, founded in 1912. It is the sixth-largest in the country[138] and includes the world's largest public collection of contemporary Inuit art.[16][139] Since the late 1970s Winnipeg has also had an active artist run centre culture.[140]

Winnipeg has been home to several professional hockey teams. The Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League (NHL) have called the city home since 2011.[175] The original Winnipeg Jets, the city's former NHL team, left for Phoenix, Arizona after the 1995–96 season due to mounting financial troubles, despite a campaign effort to "Save the Jets".[176] The Jets play at Bell MTS Place, which is ranked the world's 19th-busiest arena among non-sporting touring events, 13th-busiest among facilities in North America, and 3rd-busiest in Canada as of 2009.[177]

Television broadcasting in Winnipeg started in 1954. The federal government refused to license any private broadcaster until the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation had created a national network. In May 1954, CBWT went on the air with four hours of broadcasting per day.[196] There are now five English-language stations and one French-language station based in Winnipeg. Additionally, some American network affiliates are available over-the-air.[197] Winnipeg is home to 33 am and FM radio stations, two of which are French-language stations.[198]CBC Radio One and CBC Radio 2 broadcast local and national programming in the city.[199]NCI is devoted to Aboriginal programming.[200]

Since 1992, the city of Winnipeg has been represented by 15 city councillors and a mayor, both elected every four years.[201] The present mayor, Brian Bowman, was elected to office in 2014.[16] The city is a single-tier municipality, governed by a mayor-council system.[16] The structure of the municipal government is set by the provincial legislature in the City of Winnipeg Charter Act, which replaced the old City of Winnipeg Act in 2003.[202] The mayor is elected by direct popular vote to serve as the chief executive of the city.[203] At Council meetings, the mayor has one of 16 votes. The City Council is a unicameral legislative body, representing geographical wards throughout the city.[202]

From 2007 to 2011, Winnipeg was the "murder capital" of Canada, with the highest per-capita rate of homicides; it fell to second place in 2012, behind Thunder Bay.[207][208] Winnipeg has had the highest violent crime index since 2009. The robbery rate in 2012 was between 250.1 and 272.9.[209][210] Despite high overall violent crime rates, crime in Winnipeg is mostly concentrated in the inner city, which makes up only 19% of the population[211] but was the site of 86.4% of the city's shootings, 66.5% of the robberies, 63.3% of the homicides and 59.5% of the sexual assaults in 2012.[209]

From the early 1990s to the mid-2000s, Winnipeg had a significant auto-theft problem, with the rate peaking at 2,165.0 per 100,000 residents in 2006[212] compared to 487 auto-thefts per 100,000 residents for Canada as a whole.[213] To combat auto theft, Manitoba Public Insurance established financial incentives for motor vehicle owners to install ignition immobilizers in their vehicles, and now requires owners of high-risk vehicles to install immobilizers.[214] The auto-theft rate has been on a constant drop since 2006. Other types of property crime have also decreased, but rates are still fairly high.[210][215]

Winnipeg is protected by the Winnipeg Police Service, which in 2012 had 1,442 police officers.[215] In November 2013, the national police union reviewed the Winnipeg Police Force and found high average response times for several categories of calls.[216][217]

Several taxi companies serve Winnipeg, the largest being Unicity, Duffy's Taxi and Spring Taxi. Fifty percent of Winnipeg residents use a taxi at least once during the year.[240] Ride sharing was legalized in March 2018 and several services including TappCar and Cowboy Taxi operate in Winnipeg.[241] Cycling is popular in Winnipeg, and there are many bicycle trails and lanes around the city. Winnipeg holds an annual Bike-to-Work Day[242] and Cyclovia,[243] and bicycle commuters may be seen year-round, even in the winter. Active living infrastructure in Winnipeg encourages bicycling through the inclusion of bike lanes[244] and sharrows.[245]

The National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg is one of only a handful of biosafety level 4 microbiology laboratories in the world.[247] The NML houses laboratories of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, in the National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease collocated in the same facility. Research facilities are also operated through hospitals and private biotechnology companies in the city.[248][249]

Water and sewage services are provided by the city.[250] The city draws its water via an aqueduct from Shoal Lake, treating and fluoridating it at the Deacon Reservoir just outside the city prior to pumping it into the Winnipeg system.[251] The city's system has over 2,500 kilometres (1,600 mi) of underground water mains, which are subject to breakage during extreme weather conditions.[252]

Winnipeg contracts out several services to private companies, including garbage and recycling collection and street plowing and snow removal. This practice represents a significant budget expenditure and is more expansive than in comparable communities. The services have faced numerous complaints from residents in 2013–14 about missed service.[255][256][257]

^Bumsted, JM (March 2002). "The Manitoba Royal Commission on Flood Cost Benefit and the Origins of Cost-Benefit Analysis in Canada". American Review of Canadian Studies. 32 (1): 97–121. doi:10.1080/02722010209481659.

^Lightbody, James (1978) [1971]. The Reform of a Metropolitan Government: The Case of Winnipeg. Canadian Public Policy.

^"Canada's largest employers by city". From Conference Board of Canada: Metropolitan Outlook: Economic Insights Into 27 Canadian Metropolitan Economies. University of Western Ontario. Archived from the original on 21 January 2010. Retrieved 17 July 2009.